Open Register

Some magazines get cars to test drive

From time to time, a box will arrive unexpectedly here at Garden Center headquarters. These shipments provide a welcome diversion on an otherwise routine day in the office. The source of these shipments? Kind-hearted vendors who have been thoughtful enough to send us samples so we can share in the joy of their latest introductions. Or maybe they just want free press.

It’s entertaining to watch the staff paw through the box to see what kind of booty has arrived. Reminds me of my brothers and me tearing through a new box of breakfast cereal to find the cheapo prize at the bottom.

Of course, a favorite for most of us are the plant samplers. Breeders from time to time send nice selections of new varieties in hopes that our staff will plant them and be impressed enough by the plants’ performance to write a favorable article. Several colleagues have nicely outfitted their landscapes thanks to these charity shipments.

Not all shipments are winners, however.

Sadly, this spring one large box of plants was misdirected to an unair-conditioned storage room, where it sat for three weeks before being noticed. Even SUPERthrive could not revive those crispy plant samples.

Humbug to the poinsettia supplier that sent whitefly-infested plants one year.

We finally tossed out the pet memorial stone embossed with DUKE, A LOYAL FRIEND, 1990-2002. If one of us had had a dog so named who lived during that era, it would have been a fine gimme.

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Speaking of swag, Open Register will give one lucky reader a copy of “Loves Me, Loves Me Not: The Hidden Language of Flowers,” a new book from Cool Springs Press. For a chance to win, all you have to do is click Comments below, then type in your name and e-mail address. There are no tricky trivia questions to answer. No salesmen will call.

-- Kevin

GCA Summer Tour: Final day!

It was a fantastic finish to an action-packed tour. The day started out at Otten Brothers, a family-owned garden center that has been in business for 54 years.

Otten Brothers is undergoing a facelift, of sorts. The company is introducing a fresh, new logo that emphasizes its areas of expertise. They’ll also be doing some remodeling in the near future.

101 Market was our next stop. This business is celebrating its 10th anniversary. They’re also coping with major road construction that’s expected to go on for another two years.

101 Market had some of the most inspiring displays I’ve seen on this trip. Take a look. These statues fit in perfectly with the airy, dreamy plant material on display.

Noble Landscape & Garden Center is a 30-year-old business that’s been in its brand new building for two years. If I had to describe this store in one word it would be “shopable.” It has wide, covered aisles offering easy access to all areas of the plant yard. At practically every corner there is a fantastic vignette display.

And here’s a really cool feature of this store. A garage-type door opens up to expand the area devoted to landscape demonstrations.

Next up was Mickman Brothers. Like the caboose? During the store’s infancy, it was used as the checkout area for the entire facility.

Around 50% of Mickman Brothers' business comes from its wreath-making enterprise. More than 500,000 fresh evergreen wreaths are created and shipped each year.

Linder’s Garden Center was the last stop of the day. Linder’s has one main store, but sets up temporary pop-up garden centers in parking lots throughout the Twin Cities during peak season.

Linder’s was another retailer using technology to inform and educate. The gift area featured two computer kiosks. One was running a display of landscape ideas. Another was an information center in the birding area, connecting customers to a vast bird ID database.

As a grand finale, attendees got to tour Bailey Nurseries' vast container production facility and gardens at Nord Farm. They also hosted a rousing closing dinner, where we learned more about the nursery’s Trees are Cool initiative.

And there you have it, folks. Three whirlwind days, a ton of new ideas and some of the best networking you’ll ever experience. I strongly urge you to attend an industry tour. I know you’ll find it to be a great investment. And Garden Centers of America is offering two chances for you to get out and see the retail world in the near future. The upcoming holiday tour will be held in Boston in November. You can get more details here. Next summer, the GCA crew will be visiting North Carolina. Hope to see you there!

-- Sarah

Moth puts California crops at risk

The New York Times recently reported on problems associated with light brown apple moth (LBAM), a pest that feeds on flowers, fruits and firs. Nurseries in Santa Cruz County are particularly concerned about LBAM. More than 3,500 moths have been trapped in the area.

-- Sarah

GCA Summer Tour: Day 2

Day 2 was a study in contrasts. Attendees got to see several small, boutique-style garden centers and some of the biggest retail establishments in the Minneapolis area.

Our first stop was Lilydale Garden Center, a charming place situated on 2 acres. This family-owned business will soon welcome its fourth-generation staff member. The entire clan is excited about the future of their enterprise.

Lilydale has a beautiful, well-merchandised gift area and a thoughtfully laid out plant yard. One thing this store excels at is incorporating statuary in its plant displays.

The next stop was another small garden center, Highland Nursery, which sits on 1.25 acres and is near a neighborhood filled with doctors’ homes.

One visiting retailer described Highland Nursery as “visually explosive.” Color blocking used in the gift shop had a tremendous impact. For me, the best part about Highland Nursery was you never knew what was around the next curve. You could find a towering evergreen, a fully decked-out arbor, or this charming fellow tucked among the plants.

Tangletown Gardens defines small, boutique garden center. This store occupies 13,000 square feet and bills itself as “the ultimate urban garden center experience.”

One thing a lot of the visiting retailers commented on was the abundance of plants displayed outside the store’s fence. Owners Scott Endres and Dean Engelmann said theft isn’t a problem. They’ve befriended firefighters stationed across the street, who keep an eye on things when the store is closed.

We were treated to one more small garden center: Uncommon Gardens, a store that opened just after 9-11, and is still going strong.

I’d say that Tonkadale Greenhouse was the happy medium of the day’s stops, covering 50,000 square feet. Visiting retailers praised this store’s high-quality plant material, most of which is grown in the company’s off-site range.

A detailed fairy garden display also caught a lot of eyes. Tonkadale Greenhouse conducts seminars to help people get started in this hobby.

In stark contrast to these stores were the retail behemoths we visited: Gerten’s and Bachman’s Lyndale location.

Gerten’s is H-U-G-E, covering 15 acres. Here’s a photo to give you some idea of this store’s sprawling layout:

 

Gerten’s just kicked off its Do-It-Yourself Landscape Expo, a series of seminars and specials, encouraging homeowners to enhance outdoor spaces.

Bachman’s flagship store on Lyndale was the final stop of the day. It’s a 22-acre facility, with a 230,000-square-foot retail area.

Bachman’s gift and home accents department is a visual merchandising wonderland. Scattered throughout the area are idea cards, letting customers know how they can achieve a look for themselves.

Check back tomorrow for details on the final day of this exciting tour.

-- Sarah

Bird species show sharp declines

A study by National Audubon Society shows sharp declines in 20 American bird species, USA Today reported.

Whippoorwills and the Rufous hummingbird populations have declined by more than half in the past 40 years. Some drops have been even more dramatic. Northern bobwhite populations declined by 82%; Eastern meadowlark saw a decline of 71%.

-- Sarah

GCA Summer Tour: Day 1

Day 1 proved to be action packed. We started out at Bachman's Cedar Acres location. The 14-acre site is home to a 396,000-square-foot retail area and an extensive growing range.

The store is three years old and still has that brand new, squeaky clean feel. Lots of good ideas to be had at this place. Here are a few gems:

Looking for a cheap, easy way to get people to keep shopping on rainy days? How about something simple? Like, say, an umbrella? Bachman's keeps them on hand for customers willing to brave a little drizzle.

Cedar Acres has great curb appeal, thanks to its demonstration gardens right up front. But plants aren't the only thing on display. As you meander along the paths, shapes and colors of the pavers underfoot change. Signs along the path inform customers exactly what they're walking on and what pattern they're laid out in.

The next stop was Sargent's Gardens Rochester. The first of three Sargent's locations we visited.

   

Like many other garden centers, Sargent's offers complimentary beverages. But what I loved was the vase displayed at this simple coffee bar, which featured cuttings from plants available in the sales yard.

Our bus convoy's next stop was Sargent's on 2nd. The total retail area is 53,000 square feet, and they put every bit to good use. The place was crammed with goodies, but didn't seem crowded.

 

Check out this fantastic, high-impact display as seen from the cash wrap. The monitor is hooked up to a computer running a Power Point presentation touting the company's landscape services.

One more Sargent's location rounded out our day. Sargent's Red Wing is known for its hanging baskets. These showy displays adorn lampposts in the historic downtown area.

As a grand finale, tour-goers were treated to a sumptuous meal at the historic St. James Hotel. An award presentation followed, where we learned that Pasquesi Home and Garden cinched the title of 2007 GCA Garden Center of the Year. Monrovia Growers received the 2007 Supplier of the Year honors.

Check back tomorrow for details on day 2 of GCA's Summer Tour.

-- Sarah

Container options abound at Dallas market

Container gardening continues to be hot, but if we don’t watch out, the trend could quickly become passé. One way to avoid that is to give shoppers new options for containers. At the temp show during Dallas Market last weekend, we saw a few fresh ideas that are worth passing along.

Two French companies were showcasing their glazed pottery in colors and combinations you don’t see every day. Poterie d’Albi and Clair de Terre, both exhibiting as part of the French Salon, supply European garden centers but are eager to extend their reach to North America.

For a tropical flare, try pottery made by artisans in the Dominican Republic -– “one of the few places in the world that still considers handmade pots an art,” their rep told me. Natural clay pots range from 12 to 57 inches tall and can be used indoors or out. Caribbean Pottery LLC produces beautiful pottery in designs you won’t see elsewhere.

Philosopots got their start as a fundraiser for Melissa Lloyd’s daughter’s school. Requests for more prompted Lloyd to begin selling them to retailers across the nation. The sealed pots are artistically painted with all kinds of clever quotes. While Philosopots are fine for planting, why not use them to hold kitchen utensils, candy, hand towels or doggie treats?

-- Kevin

Wal-Mart ditches blue vests

Wal-Mart employees will be retiring their blue vests, according to a report from ABC News. Polo shirts and khakis will be the store’s official uniform.

The new dress code is already in place at a Wal-Mart in Rogers, Ark. The millions of blue vests will be recycled into materials to help armed forces overseas.

-- Sarah

Welcome to the 2007 GCA Summer Tour

Garden Centers of America’s Summer Tour is off to the great start. For the next three days we’ll be touring garden centers in Minneapolis-St. Paul. The locals are apologizing for the hot weather. But, for a Texas gal like me, low 90s feel like a breath of fresh air.

Everyone got a chance to mingle this evening at the opening reception, where we also received our tour books and a bag crammed full of goodies. I have to admit, one of my favorite things about retail tours is the fantastic loot. The bags were filled with items produced by companies based in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Tomorrow we’ll be visiting Bachman’s Cedar Acres, Sargent’s Country Nursery, Sargent’s on 2nd and Sargent’s Red Wing. Stay tuned for more details!

-- Sarah

Get ready for National Pollinator Week

The declining bee population is a major topic being explored during the first National Pollinator Week, June 24-30.

More than 120 organizations have joined to spread awareness of the importance of bees, bats, butterflies, beetles and other pollinators. The U.S. Postal Service will issue a series of 4 commemorative stamps on Friday during a ceremony featuring U.S. Secretary of Agriculture  Mike Johanns.

Pulitzer prize-winning scientist and pollination expert E.O. Wilson will speak on the importance of pollinators at a reception at the Kaiser Family Foundation in Washington, D.C.

-- Sarah